Editorial: Where to put the Obama library

Paradise vs. Chicago is an easy choice

July 29, 2013

The five living most-recent presidents attend the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in April in Dallas. (Alex Wong, Getty Images)

There is something about juxtaposing the words "president" and "library" that invites jocularity. At the recent dedication of his presidential library and museum in Dallas, George W. Bush joked that at one point in his life, he "wasn't likely to be found in a library, much less found one." Speaking at the same event, Bill Clinton described the institution as "the latest, grandest example of the struggle of former presidents to rewrite history."

Speaking at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in April, Barack Obama said he was already making plans for his library. "Some have suggested that we put it in my birthplace," he said, "but I'd rather keep it in the United States."

For some people, though, this is serious business. Having one of these presidential sites is not quite the novelty it used to be — there are 13 in the National Archives' Presidential Library system. But they can be marks of distinction and sources of pride as well as tourist attractions. So people can get worked up about where they'll be located.

These centers are often connected to universities, giving the much-traveled Obama many possibilities: Occidental College in Los Angeles, where he started his undergraduate education; Columbia University in New York, where he finished; Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., where he went to law school; and the University of Chicago, where he taught.

But Harvard already had an unhappy experience with the John F. Kennedy library, which was supposed to be located on campus until local opposition forced a move to a Boston landfill. Columbia, in crowded Manhattan, has no obvious place to squeeze it in. Occidental officials may not have wanted to remind everyone how eager the 44th president was to escape their environs.

So the word is that the library is likely to be placed in either Hawaii, where Obama was born and spent much of his youth, or Chicago, where he moved as an adult and launched his political career. And while no one around here would deny the attractions of the Aloha State, we trust it's obvious that Obama's papers and artifacts belong right here.

For one thing, he does want people to spend time in his library and museum, right? With no insult to Hawaii's respect for the life of the mind, it's fair to say that very few people go there in fierce pursuit of book learning. Who's going to want to relive the 2009 stimulus debate when they could be snorkeling, surfing, peering into a volcano, lying on a beach, playing golf, gorging at a luau or learning to appreciate ukulele music? And we might mention those distractions are available year-round.

In Chicago, by contrast, the climate, pace of life and recreational options will weigh more in favor of retreating to a museum to learn about the achievements of Ray LaHood at the Department of Transportation. Scholars undistracted by gentle breezes and hula dancers will have more incentive to delve into the machinations that produced the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Sure, plenty of people would justify the expense of a vacation in Hawaii by invoking the Obama facility and saying, "It will be educational!" But face it — a lot of tourists just won't quite get around to doing anything that doesn't involve bare feet and sunscreen.

Chicago is a normal city, where a major library and museum would fit right in. Hawaii is a tropical paradise. We've got nothing against former presidents. But they're not a way to improve paradise.